1-28-2013 Tap: 3.5Tried a draft sample to see if it lived up to the horrible bottles I had last month. The aroma was similarly of fake strawberry syrup, but the roastiness of the stout did come through a little bit more behind it. Flavors were similarly sweet and artificial at first, but in the end the base stout came forward quite a bit more flavor-wise also. Overall it was actually far better that the bottles... just going to chalk it up to inconsistency, or poor treatment of the first bottled batch that arrived in Chicago.

12-17-2012 Bottle: 2.45

Poured a 12 oz. bottle into a pint glass. Dark brown when poured and black in the glass. Huge billowing head of tan foam that rises above the rim in a convex dome, leaving sheets of sticky lacing behind. Great head retention, long lasting and the surface skim never breaks. So far so good.

Aromas of artificial strawberry cough syrup and vanilla extract. Very medicinal and fake... not to mention the bad childhood memories of taking cough syrup it conjures up. Yuck.

Flavor also has a similar artificial, medicinal strawberry note to it, though the base stout seems good enough. Mildly roasty with a medium level of sweetness, slightly dry and bitter finish. Medicinal note lingers throughout unfortunately, marring an otherwise decent base stout. Just plain weird. Not sure why they released this, it struck me as odd right off the bat. This is a brand new arrival to the market too, doubt it would already be infected.

Pours a dark chestnut color with a minimal khaki head. Aroma smells of coffee grounds with hints of salted caramel and lactose.

The taste features a strident, chemical bitterness that exceeds black coffee along with some lactose up front, followed by one of the most off-putting finishes I’ve ever encountered. After the initial barrage subsides, the palate is assaulted by a crescendo of pure aspirin. I was leary about the label’s touting of “artificial flavors added”, and unfortunately those words rang truer than I would have liked. The moderately high carbonation and medium body afford a smooth enjoyable mouthfeel; it’s just a shame it has not the taste to match.

Overall, this is a bitter, synthetic mess that isn’t worth the time to try.

This was a pretty raunchy brew that lived up to its name. Isn’t the point of having strawberry, chocolate and vanilla ice cream that you get three different flavors in one—not that the three get mixed together?It pours a thick black color with light cocoa foam. The aroma is all about a milk stout’s sweetness with a combination of chocolate-strawberry and a light cocoa note. The flavor is sharply sweet, and becomes overly cloying as it opens. There’s a strawberry-tinged harshness with a lactic tartness and a sharp finish. It definitely does taste like a Neapolitan ice cream cone—only melted down with the flavors mixed together.

a - pours dark brown with a thin cap of tan head that calms to a film pretty fast. leaves a few legs of lacing in this glass.

s - mostly milk chocolate, but there is a hint of artificial strawberry and vanilla.

t - artificial strawberry flavor over a chocolate malt base. has a bitterness like burnt coffee on the back of the tongue and a weird chemical aftertaste.

m - medium in body and very creamy. adequate carbonation.

o - would be great, but the chemical flavors kinda ruined this one for me. i wish they had brewed this with real strawberries and aged it on vanilla beans instead of using a bunch of flavorings. probably not returning to this one.